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5 Series DIY Knowledge Is Power! ~ The place for do-it-yourself threads on a variety of topics. Start a thread describing a particular job (oil change, cooling system overhaul, brakes, shocks and springs, etc.) or search for one you need help with!

2002 530i. I called the 800 number and gave them the information and to sum it all up they said they would pay 25% of the parts and labor. At the local dealership the instrument cluster is $579 and the labor they could not tell me yet...

That's great to hear, as they are taking some responsibility, but the fact of the matter is the design is fundamentally flawed and they should be doing it for free. Please sign up on the facebook link.

2002 530i. I called the 800 number and gave them the information and to sum it all up they said they would pay 25% of the parts and labor. At the local dealership the instrument cluster is $579 and the labor they could not tell me yet...

what phone # did you call? I have sent 3 emails and have not gotten a responce yet.

1-800-831-1117 is the number for BMW North America. They followed through pretty quick. I had to fax them a copy of the current registration. After 3 days they called back and said they would pay 25% of the parts and labor. That still leaves us over with over $600 so we are just going to forget it I guess. I can paste 6 X $100 bills over the instrument cluster and heck, it would look great

I have a 1998 540i and the pixels are pretty bad, can't really read how many miles or the temp etc... I called them and they told me they would cover 50% of the parts and 0% of labor so after I spoke with a service advisor I would end up spending over 700 to fix it. So, gonna give it a miss and start speeding up my search for my 2003 M5.

I have a 1998 540i and the pixels are pretty bad, can't really read how many miles or the temp etc... I called them and they told me they would cover 50% of the parts and 0% of labor so after I spoke with a service advisor I would end up spending over 700 to fix it. So, gonna give it a miss and start speeding up my search for my 2003 M5.

That doesn't make sense. I had the same offer and it came to about $450 at BMW Seattle.
Worse case, go to www.vdorepair.com and you can get it done for $299 plus shipping. It is very easy to remove and install the cluster, and they provide full instructions on their website.

That doesn't make sense. I had the same offer and it came to about $450 at BMW Seattle.
Worse case, go to www.vdorepair.com and you can get it done for $299 plus shipping. It is very easy to remove and install the cluster, and they provide full instructions on their website.

Yeah I know, didn't sound right considering all the prices I saw on this thread but that's what the service advisor was quoting. That was BMW Concord, CA. maybe he was just estimating extremely high. You know what is funny, I was out of the country for about a month last year and when I came back and got the car out and running the display was perfect for like 2 days then everything faded back to the state it is now. Seems like I should be able to do something to fix that other than replacing the whole pixel cable. Either way, I want to spend that money on something more useful for this car.

Thought I'd update this thread with my experience here in Dallas, TX USA. I called BMW NA, and they assigned a customer service person to my case. After speaking a couple of times, she asked me if I was the original owner and whether I had purchased the car from a BMW dealership or not (I am not and did not). In the end, BMW NA offered to pay 25% of the parts cost of the repair (0% of the labor).

After calling the 2 BMW dealerships near me (Classic BMW and BMW of Dallas), both quoted me a repair cost of over $1200 in parts and nearly $500 in labor! That's ridiculous! I can remove and replace the dash in less than 5 minutes. So, in the end, BMW offered to let me pay over $1400 to replace the instrument panel with a refurbished part. Ridiculous.

Guess I'll be contacting VDORepair.

I was hoping that moving up from my two 3 Series of the past to a 540i would mean better customer service and a higher-quality car. Boy, have I been disappointed...

yes, it can be DIY, but it's not necessarily easy. There are two methods to taking apart the gauge cluster, one has a risk of damaging the motors that control the needles and the other method requires drilling holes. I helped a friend with his X5 that had the same pixel issue and we were able to fix about 95% of the problem... for some reason, 3 lines of pixels still didn't come back. We might try again, but we did not use a new ribbon cable.

Based on what I saw taking apart the gauge cluster, the problem is the adhesive used to hold the ribbon tape to the PCB board; it melts over time and smears over the electrical contacts. that's why some people have reported some success with contact cleaner and not even bothering to take it apart (it must dissolve some of the adhesive). i even have a theory that cars in cold climates probably are less likely to develop this issue than cars in hot climates, where the adhesive is getting melted a lot more.

If you do try to DIY, you'll need a T9 *AND* T10 torx long shaft screw driver. You'll read a lot of things online saying you only need T10, but I think that's a mistake. The 4 screws you'll need to reach at the end are T9.

I have had recommendations on two display repair providers: VDO Repair and BBA Reman. What sort of experience have any of you had from either of these providers. It has gotten to the point that I can't read anything on the Check Control display.

I recommend VDO repair, especially if you live in Southern California. This kind of work is all they do. I had mine done there just yesterday. They have a special rate of $250 for locals, the work is done in Huntington Beach, in 2 hours, while you wait. When its done they run the diagnostics for you to show that everything works perfectly again, and you are on your way. There were 8 or 10 units there shipped from shops all over waiting to be done while I was there.

Initially I had called BMW about this. They asked me all the questions previous posts inicated they would, and then I didn't hear a thing from them. I called again once more, but never heard from BMW again. Since my 2003 had 99000 miles on it, I decided I was going to get at most 25% off a BMW price, so I didn't persist with BMW. Even my local independent shop wanted $850!

I'm not mechanically inclined and have never done any substantive auto work. But taking the instrument cluster out is not hard. There are some directions and photos on vdorepair's website, and a better clip showing the process on YouTube. You just need a #10 Torx and a Phillips screwdriver - that's it. Disconnect the battery first and you'll have it out in 10 minutes. My only problem was I couldn't get the electrical connection to come out of the back of the instrument panel dimming switch, so I just left it connected and rotated the face plate 180 degrees to the left to get it out of the way. Really if I could do it anyone can. So I recommend you take it out yourself and send it off to vdo repair.

I also have moved from a 3 series E30 and now an E46 upto an E39.
In the past, BMW NA combined w/ BMW Car Club of America have helped resolve big ticket items such as the instrument cluster pixel issue..
I called BMW NA today and they wanted proof of ownership, which I had to fax to them ???? Does anyone fax anymore ?
In any event based on past postings, even my legacy of owning BMWs since 1988 and an active CCA member may not help ..

I would use German Auto Recycling in SoCal. You can ship the Cluster to them for $209.99 before shipping or the MID for 179.99 before shipping. Turn around is 1 day. They also offer the Cluster Rings in Chrome or Silver for $40 extra. If your local they can cut you a deal if you pay with cash and can fix it in under 1 hour while you wait.www.GermanAutoRecycling.com